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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
History without humanity,
By
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This review is from: Saipan & Tinian 1944: Piercing the Japanese Empire (Campaign) (Paperback)
Gordon L. Rottman's Osprey Campaign #137, Saipan and Tinian 1944, is effective in laying out and summarizing the events of the campaign, but it is dry as dirt. Rottman provides a wealth of information indicating that he has much to offer military readers, but he lacks the style - in what he chooses to discuss and how he describes it - that renders this volume rather sterile. Assaulting two tropical islands defended by thousands of fanatical defenders should evoke emotions of fear, courage and resignation, but Rottman can only offer terse descriptions of sequential unit movements and actions. Indeed, if one were to remove all the unit designations and the words "moved," "landed," "attacked" and "defended" from this volume there wouldn't be much left to this narrative. Rottman's knowledge of the US Marine Corps is impressive, but he doesn't seem to be aware that history is made by human beings, not by faceless unit designations. Nowhere is Rottman's omission of the human element in this campaign more evident in the fact that he fails to mention any of the five Medal of Honor recipients on Saipan (Agerholm, Baker, Epperson, McCard and Timmerman) and the two on Tinian (Ozbourn, Wilson); all seven were KIA and they deserve mention. Rottman begins with a 5-page introduction that lays out the origins of the campaign and the nature of the two islands (although he omits mentioning the civilian population of the island). The lack of a strategic map depicting the location of the islands in the Pacific or their relation to the other invasion on Guam, is a serious omission. The author then discusses the US invasion plan, included the unprecedented large-scale use of over 600 amphibious tractors (amtracs), which Rottman notes "set the standard for future operations." One odd point here is that Rottman notes that the invasion plan for Saipan included an option to land a reinforced battalion on the opposite side of the island the night before the main invasion, in order to drive inland a seize a key piece of high ground. Although Rottman notes that "this extremely risky mission" - which is a euphemism for suicidal - was cancelled, he never identifies who ordered it in the first place. The Japanese army and navy forces defending Saipan and Tinian were handicapped with a number of serious deficiencies that undermined their efforts, including lack of a unified command; shortages of ammunition, construction materials, artillery and small arms; and heavy losses from US submarine attacks while enroute to the islands (according to Rottman, about 3,000 troops were lost to submarine attacks). Rottman notes that about 40% of the 31,000 Japanese army troops on Saipan were unarmed, and that many fighting positions were incomplete. On the other hand, the Japanese forces had a high level of fanaticism and were able to cunningly use their meager reserves to inflict serious losses on the US invaders. Rottman provides only five 2-D maps in this volume: Japanese defenses on Saipan and on Tinian; the battle in central Saipan on 27 June 1944; and the capture of Tinian. The three 3-D Bird's Eye View Maps are: D-Day, Green Beach on Saipan; the Japanese Banzai attack on Saipan; and J-Day on Tinian. The three color battle scenes depict: clearing Afetna Point on Saipan; Japanese tank attack on Saipan; and LVTs emplacing "cliff ramps" on Tinian. While Rottman's bibliography is conventional, his order of battle is superb, with all the myriad minor detachments noted. Rottman also provides information on the battlefield today. Although Saipan is one of many Second World war invasions that has been all but forgotten due to the hyping (milking) of D-Day, Rottman notes that US forces suffered over 2,000 casualties on the first day of the landings - comparable to Omaha Beach, which occurred nine days earlier. Despite landing with two divisions abreast, the US Marines required two days of fighting to seal the inter-division boundary - a defect which the Japanese cunningly exploited with repeated small-scale counterattacks. After twelve days of fighting, the two Marine divisions and one army division had secured most of the island and began the final costly reduction of Japanese pockets. It was during this period that the senior US ground commander, Marine LGN "Howling Mad" Smith relieved the army commander of the 27th Infantry Division. While Rottman mentions that this controversial decision was unwarranted, he does so in a footnote and seems to have little sympathy for the 27th ID on Saipan. However, a close examination of the tactical combat indicates that the army units and commanders on Saipan performed admirably and the relief was probably due more to differences on tactical philosophies rather than failure to accomplish the mission. The landings on Tinian are interesting because the Americans chose to ignore the best beaches and achieve surprise by landing on tiny, sub-optimal stretches of beach. Indeed, the two landing beaches on Tinian were only 114 meters wide and the US units were forced to land in company columns, but they achieved tactical surprise. Rottman's description of the LVT-launched "cliff ramps" is a good example of American engineering ingenuity to solve a tactical problem. In the end, the battles on Saipan and Tinian were foregone conclusions due to US air and naval superiority, but the cost for both sides was still very high: over 18,000 US casualties (3,700 dead) against about 37,000 Japanese military and 26,000 civilian deaths. Indeed, more than half the population of the islands died in the fighting. With the islands secured, the US began the end game for the Pacific War, of putting heavy bombers in range of the Japanese industrial heartland. Rottman gets his facts straight, but forgets to include the kind of personal accounts that bring military history to life.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fairly Good Synopsis of these Two Battles,
By Mike Dillemuth (Virginia) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Saipan & Tinian 1944: Piercing the Japanese Empire (Campaign) (Paperback)
All in all, this book gives a better than average synopsis of the Battles for Saipan and Tinian. The author, Gordon Rottman clearly knows his material. Unfortunately, his writing style is difficult to follow. In addition, the book suffers from a lack of adequate battlefield maps. Nevertheless, the book does contain a great deal of information. The book has four battle maps. The two most useful ones mark the Japanese defenses. Their usefulness, however, is primarily as a geographic reference. The third map only covers the action in a limited area of Saipan. It is of minimal value due to its limited scope. The last map charts the progress of the Marines through the Tinian campaign. It is the only map that truly helps the reader follow the progress of the battle. The book has three 3D birds' eye view maps. Unfortunately, the only helpful one covers the Japanese Banzai attack on Saipan. Also, these maps are unnecessarily difficult to read as the reference notes are jumbled. In order to follow the notes from 1 to 2 to 3, the reader must scan across both pages. This distraction could have been avoided by listing the notes in ascending order on one page and then the other. The author should be commended for including many helpful photos. These images provide an excellent view of the battle. Unfortunately, several pictures are out of sync with the text. Pages 62-65 contain several photos of Tinian. Too bad they are placed in the chapter on Saipan. These photos should have been placed next to the text that covers the associated battle. At times, the writing style is disjointed. In the chapter on Opposing Forces, the author constantly breaks up sentences with nomenclature on weapons systems. For example, he would describe an infantry battalion as having a "machine gun company (8 or 12x7.7mm type 92 (1932) or type 1 (1941 HMGs), battalion gun platoon or company...." This information would be better placed in a table or graph. This writing style merely serves to confuse the reader. All in all, this book provides a decent overview of these two battles. Unfortunately, the writing style and editorial organization make it a slow read. Although the book has several maps, they are of minimal value. Nevertheless, the author has a solid understanding of this campaign. With a little effort, the reader will still come away with a good understanding of these battles.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Coverage of Operation Forager,
By
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This review is from: Saipan & Tinian 1944: Piercing the Japanese Empire (Campaign) (Paperback)
I consider Osprey books as summaries not full length efforts. They are summaries that an author has to choose what material to use to fit in 96 pages and because of this, I'm not as critical of these books as I'm on full length books.
Mr Rottman has created a large database on Pacific islands and his introductions to these campaigns are informative and interesting. He gives brief histories, shape, size, key landmarks and distances from neighboring islands. The Chronology which follows the Introduction was very good and included the US Operation's Calander. The Planning section was also good, telling us about US details for the invasion. On the Japanese side the author discusses the Japanese A-Go Operation and how it impacted the Marianas. The Japanese were expecting an invasion soon and sent men and planes to bolster the garrisons. The Opposing Commanders section was a little light but adequate while the Opposing Forces was excellent. Of all the Osprey books I have, Mr Rottman has devoted more space discussing the first five chapters than the others. He prepares the reader well for the coming battle. Saipan had the biggest garrison and the best prepared defenses of the 3 islands and the US wanted to secure it before moving on to the other two. Though the battle summary was brief, the author does a good job of touching the key engagements as well as conveying the difficulties the Marine / Army forces faced. The trouble was, beside facing fanatical resistance, US intelligence underestimated the Japanese garrison by over a third and consequently had fewer men on the island than what was required. The "Turkey Shoot" and the civilian suicides in the north are also mentioned. Tinian was an easier target and received less space for it. The controversy of relieving LtGen Smith for MajGen Jarman is also included. The Aftermath counts the casualties of capturing the two islands. It also mentions improving the airfields and how they were used to the end of the war, including the B29s taking off and hitting Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I gave this book 5 stars not because it was perfect but because its about as good a story you'll get in 96 pages. In the Operation section the key points were touched on but in a full length book greater depth would have been given. Sub and surface action in the immediate area suffered from the page limitation as did the air war. The battle action in the mountains in central Saipan would have been nice to see expanded as well. There were three 2-D maps and two 3-D maps and they were all good and helpful. There were many photos and color illustrations to help as well. A very good Order of Battle list was shown as well. I thought the book was good and freely recommend it.
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